This patent document relates to adsorbent booms used for the containment of oil or other chemical spills. More particularly, the patent document relates to oil-adsorbent booms formed using substantially flat fabric sheets that are highly compressible and flexible, and a method of making such oil-adsorbent booms.
There are currently many different oil-adsorbent (or oil-absorbent) boom products on the market for use in the containment of oil or other chemical spills, both on land and in water. Due to the locations and environments where these booms are utilized, they generally must contain materials which are both oleophilic (i.e., oil-absorbent or oil-adsorbent) and hydrophobic (i.e., water-resistant). With such a configuration, the booms may effectively adsorb oil or other chemical spills, while not absorbing water from the surrounding environment. They are commonly used in the form of tubular or cylindrical elongated sacks of netting which retain the adsorbent material. Following an oil or chemical spill, the booms are placed around the polluted location in order to prevent the expansion of the spill and simultaneously adsorb the oil from the ground or water surface.
Often, the adsorbent material used within the booms includes melt-blown polypropylene or other polymers in the form of pulp, flakes, etc. In order to manufacture the boom, the melt-blown polypropylene or other material(s) is stuffed into a cylindrical, elongated sack, either by hand or by machine (e.g., ram, auger, blowing, etc.). FIG. 1 illustrates a cut-away cross-section of an example of such a conventional boom 10, wherein an adsorbent material 12 is stuffed within a surrounding netting 14 so as to form a tubular structure. However, the process of stuffing the adsorbent material into the sack not only causes the boom to take on a substantially cylindrical shape, but also compresses and compacts the adsorbent material, resulting in a stiff, densely-packed boom. In addition, the rounded cross-sectional profile of the cylindrical boom may leave very little of the boom (and its associated adsorbent material) in direct contact with the ground, water, or other spill surface. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a contact surface 16 is limited due to the cylindrical cross-sectional shape of the boom 10. As such, oil or chemical spills may slide under the boom and/or the adsorption process may be slowed due to a lack of surface area of the adsorbent material being in contact with the contaminant(s), thereby not allowing much of the oil or other chemical material to adhere to the surface of the adsorbent material. Furthermore, the adsorbent material generally becomes less adsorbent when compacted, similar to the lost absorption properties of a squeezed sponge.
In addition to the disadvantages in adsorption associated with the process of making conventional booms, the process also tends to make the booms semi-rigid, thereby reducing their flexibility when deployed around spills. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 2, the boom 10 cannot effectively be wound tightly when undeployed, thereby consuming a large amount of storage space and/or making the boom 10 unwieldy to handle prior to and during deployment around spills.
Accordingly, the present disclosure describes a system and method intended to address the issued discussed above and/or other issues.